Page 24 of Shadow and Skulls

It makes little goosebumps break out over my skin. I hug his warm jacket to my chest. His hand reaches out and he takes a piece of my hair, curling it around his finger.

My hair used to be short. I kept it that way for a long time. My uncle used to make me keep it long. He said men liked it that way. It was the first thing I did when I got away from them. My therapist thought it would be healing for me to let it grow out.

“You remind me of a scared baby deer,” he says quietly.

I blink up at him. “I … you should go.”

“Is that what you want?” he asks, his thumb rubbing over the strand of hair twisted around his finger.

When I don’t answer, he asks again. “Is that what you want?”

“You’re stalking me,” I accuse, unable to pull away from him, and not just because he still has my hair in his big hand. He has a way of holding me hostage without any restraints.

He tips his head back and forth, a smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth. “Stalking … protecting. It’s all about perspective.” He gives my hair a gentle tug before releasing it.

“You stole my underwear and left a sex toy in my drawer.”

He shrugs. “You said you were too embarrassed to go in and get yourself something. Remember? I told you I’d take care of it. You seemed interested. So, I picked out a little item I thought you might enjoy. I put it in your underwear drawer because logically I thought that’s where a woman would keep her toys. That or in the nightstand, and you don’t have one of those.”

Woman?He called me a woman. Which of course I am. I’m a woman. It’s just that no one has seemed to notice. No one but him.

“Well, I didn’t think you were serious. I didn’t really need anything.”

“Need and want are two separate things.”

“Just stop. I only wanted one to see if it would make me feel ba …” I stop abruptly, covering my mouth with my free hand.

“Make you feel what?”

“Nothing,” I brush past him, flipping on the light in the living room. “Thank you for getting my keys. You can go back to the party now. I’m sorry for taking you away from it.”

I turn around, holding my arm straight out in front of me, his jacket dangling from my fingertips.

He doesn’t take it from me. Instead he pushes me back, joining me inside. He closes the door behind him.

“Were you going to saybad, little shadow?”

Maybe it’s from spending so much time with Jesse and Billie Rose, but my eyes, as if on autopilot, roll dramatically. “I’m not little or a shadow.”

The chuckle that erupts from him echoes through the room, filling it with his presence. It wraps itself around me like a warm blanket.

“If you think the toy is going to make you feel bad, go get it and I’ll throw it away.”

My mouth falls open. “I didn’t say that.”

“When men touch you, it makes you feel bad. You wanted to see if it would be the same if you do it to yourself.” He plops down on the couch. “I can help you with that, you know.”

How dare he. I stomp my foot. “Jason said the same thing to me the other night, and it didn’t work. Maybe you’re just like him,” I mumble under my breath.

This makes his jaw tick, and while I instantly regret my words, I don’t apologize for them.This man has been stalking me!

But I quickly realize he’s not upset with my comparison. It’s the fact that he now knows Jason used my past to coerce me into sleeping with him.

“I knew I should have killed that little fucker tonight,” he growls, rising from the couch.

Rushing toward the door, I plaster myself in front of it. “No.”

His chest rises and falls fast as we stare at each other.

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